SIMULTANEOUS HIGH RESOLUTION DISPLAY WITHIN MULTIPLE VIRTUAL DOS APPLICATIONS IN A DATA PROCESSING SYSTEM

摘要

A method and system for the simultaneous high resolution display of multiple virtual DOS applications within a data processing system. The data processing system preferably includes a processor, a memory coupled to the processor and a display device coupled to the memory and processor. Multiple programs operating within the data processing system under the control of an operating system are capable of outputting multibank high resolution graphic displays. Each time an application which is either operating as a background task or displayed within a graphics applications window attempts to write to the display device the display data is written to a logical video buffer which is designated within a portion of the memory within the data processing system. A bank management function is provided in association with the logical video buffer and permits multibank high resolution graphic displays to be simultaneously maintained for multiple virtual DOS applications. A transition of an application from background task to foreground task will result in the writing of the logical video buffer to the display device or, alternately, at least a portion of the logical video buffer may be written to a displayed window within the graphics applications program, providing for the simultaneous high resolution display of multiple applications within a data processing system.